


What the Team Saw

by Cackymn



Category: NCIS
Genre: Angst, Angst and Humor, Canon Related, Comfort, Drama, Explicit Sexual Content, Flashbacks, Friendship, Humor, Love, M/M, Outing, Possessive Behavior, Protectiveness, Romance, Slash, Team, Team Dynamics, Workplace Relationship, Workplace Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-29
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-01-17 10:18:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1383853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cackymn/pseuds/Cackymn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which our friends discover that Team Gibbs is more like Team Tibbs.  Dorneget takes the first bow in this one; other character perspectives to follow!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dorney

**Author's Note:**

> Just what it says in the summary! I haven't done just a whole lot of team perspective, this should be fun. I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know what you think. Authors live for feedback! Thanks for reading. :-) Disclaimer: Copyright infringement is the last thing on my mind… Warnings: IDK, Don't run with scissors?

"What do you mean, you finally saw it? Saw what?"

"C'mon, McGee. You know what I'm talking about."

"No, Dorney, I don't."

"Okay, let's take it from the top, then. What did you ask me when I walked in?"

"I asked how your day went."

"What did you ask me exactly?"

"How was your day in the field with Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo?"

"Oh, no you don't...I see what you're doing! You're being clever and stubborn and that's making my case for me!"

McGee drew his brows together in annoyance, but Ned Dorneget was having too much fun to let it go, that much was obvious.

"Verbatim, Tim. This is what you said: 'How was your day with Gibbs and Tony?' not 'Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo.' Nobody around here talks like that anyway. Then  _I_ said 'I finally saw it' and _you_ suddenly got your panties in a wad."

McGee tried a blank stare but it wasn't really his specialty, and the younger man's musical laugh took on a note of triumph. Tim sighed.

"Really, McGee? Please tell me you didn't think I wouldn't notice! What I want to know is how it stays out of the rumor mill."

This time McGee laughed, involuntarily. _Gibbs_. Well, Tony too - each had his own way of hiding in plain sight, but only Gibbs had the whole building frightened half to death. Ned blushed as he caught his mistake, but he kept challenging Tim with a teasing grin, and with his eyes. Denial was going to be fruitless at this point.

"We don't talk about it, Dorney."

"Not ever?" Ned asked with a wink.

McGee rolled his eyes. " _Now_ who's being clever?"

Of course it wasn't true that they didn't talk about it. Abby and Ducky kept sensitive fingers on the individual and collective pulses of Team Gibbs in all matters. Tim and Tony were friends, as were Tony and Palmer. And thinking of Palmer, a.k.a. Black Lung, the seemingly nervous, somewhat bumbling, directionally challenged Autopsy Gremlin - well, Jimmy had long since proven to be the most stable personality among them - loyal, discerning, and wise beyond his years.

So, yeah, they talked about it. They just didn't talk about it to anybody else. Where Dorneget fit into the picture was something McGee was trying to decide, was going to have to deal with because the junior agent now understood that 'Gibbs and Tony' also meant 'Gibbs&Tony.' Did Dorney get into the club simply by being gay? Did it make him an immediate and unquestionable ally or might that be a foolish assumption? McGee had never gotten anything but good vibes from the younger man. In fact he considered him a good agent and a friend, and Dorney had certainly never shown anything even approaching a dearth of respect for the Senior Agent and his SIC. Tim decided to go with his gut.

"Dorneget, you wanna go get some coffee or something?"

* * *

 

There was nothing pressing going on in the office, and Gibbs and Tony were still upstairs with the Director when Tim and Ned made their way outside. The brilliant sunshine, unoccupied benches and the quaintly familiar environs of the coffee-cart worked their usual magic. Topics off-limits in the bullpen were approachable here, could be carried off on the breeze instead of being funneled straight into the security feeds, the inquiring minds of other agents, or the preternaturally sharp and ever-present ears of Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Tim and Dorneget settled down with their coffees.

McGee rolled out the opening gambit. "So? What did you see?"

"Well first off, there was this girl."

There always was.

"At the paper company. We were getting samples to compare to our evidence. So Agent Gibbs introduces us and Tony just starts talking. The girl looks away from Gibbs like he was never there and DiNozzo is explaining about the samples we need and the dates of sale and stuff, except he's making it sound like a marriage proposal complete with an early honeymoon."

"We've all heard _that._ "

"Yeah, sure, but it's just that Gibbs wasn't nearly as amused as I expected. I tried to catch his eye but he was watching DiNozzo. And this girl, she's eating it up. She's all over Tony like he's made out of _honey."_

Tim grinned. He knew the script, backward and forward.

Dorney went on, clearly excited. "So Tony has this shit-eating grin on his face and he's throwing glances at Gibbs here and there, and if Tony is the honey and the girl is the bee, then Gibbs is the exterminator. His glare could have blasted her through the nearest wall. And then when she put her hand on Tony's arm..."

"Wait, she _touched_ him?"

"Yes! And Gibbs' back went really straight and he took, like the deepest breath _ever._ "

"Welcome to my life. Did she even notice?"

"No! She kept moving in. I thought she was going to _sniff_ him, or check him for fleas or something! So then Tony goes all shy and smug at the same time, like 'mission accomplished,' only he's not looking at her. She goes off to get the stuff, and Gibbs is pretending to look around the office, but he's balancing on his toes and his hands are twitching. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it."

"And that was just the warm-up."

Dorney looked at McGee in awe. "Wow, you really _have_ seen this before, haven't you?"

"Only since I got here. Did he head-slap him?"

"Oh, yeah! On the way out of the building. I mean I thought Tony would keep a safe distance, I know _I_ would, but he just walks out shoulder-to-shoulder with Gibbs and lets him smack him one. It was total..."

"Don't say it..."

"Foreplay!"

Tim made a mental note to call Tony after work. There was nothing he could do about it now. Dorney was in.

**:-)**

Note: Remember Dorney came in in Season 9, making this a far-future glimpse for the purposes of this story. Starting with Ch. 2, it jumps back in time to late Season 1.


	2. Jimmy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In wine there is truth...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place early in canon, not long after Jimmy comes onto the scene. In my mind this paves the way for that wonderfully trusting scene we saw between Tony and Palmer in "Bounce." Chapter three will take up where this chapter leaves off. Let me know what you think!  
> Spoliers: "Dead Man Talking"  
> Disclaimer: Of course not.  
> Acknowledgements: Thanks so very much for all the hits, comments and follows. They mean more to me than I could ever say, and that is saying a lot. :-)  
> Thanks also to my nifty audiencer Laia de la Luz, and K9Lasko for recent conversations about Tony!

**What the Team Saw - Chapter Two: Jimmy**

"To thine own self be true!" Tony crowed drunkenly, and this time Jimmy heard it distinctly - the bitter edge he thought he'd imagined as Tony told the tale of Agent Pacci's death, bitterness that to Palmer's not-entirely-sober but still sensitive ear, had not been directed solely at the loss of life.

"Tony I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up something so..."

"S'okay, Palmer, I know you didn't, _s'not_ your fault. It's Kate's... she never stops reminding _evverbody_ I 'took one for the team' - pretty innapru, _inapro_ \- pretty messed up if you ask me, which you _did_ by the way, and I've been a _very_ good boy for not slapping her _face_ off, figgerativly a-course, cause it was really Pacci's guts in the _ella-vader_ not _me_ inna bar witha tranny that should shock th' senses, but hey, I'm not _her_..."

"Okay, Tony, that's it, I'm putting the booze away."

"Booze, _vino!_ In vino veritas! In wine there's truth, an the truth sh'll make you free! What price freedom! Buy one, get one free!"

Jimmy got up and gathered the detritus of another night of drinking with Agent DiNozzo. Sometimes he still couldn't believe Gibbs' senior agent had taken such a liking to him, but there it was, and this night had begun innocently as the rest, that is until he'd asked Tony why Kate was always running on about some apparently scandalous incident from a couple months back. So now he knew about Pacci, and Voss, and a stake-out gone wrong, and Tony's impromptu cover almost costing him his life, and what was starting to sound like a whole bunch of other stuff if he weren't mistaken.

A trip to the kitchen trash and a detour to the bathroom had Jimmy thinking furiously. Tony was doing more than letting off steam tonight, he was in some kind of pain and it was rubbing off like a contagion, leaving Jimmy wondering if he was sober enough to help or drunk enough to even try. Normally he wouldn't presume, but tonight's ramblings had not been of the fun-and-casual variety. Tony sounded obsessed, wildly agitated, almost desperate in a way. Jimmy mused silently - about why that was making him feel both concerned and irritated - and wobbled back into his living room to find Tony muttering to himself.

"...and _Gibbs_. Gibbs winds up shooting her in the _head!_ Why iddn't _that_ fucking hilarious, Katey? Cause it's _not_ , that's why. You should be worried bout _him._ Doesn't anybody care about that? How many people he's hadta _kill?_ Christ... How'd you figger out she was Voss, Boss? Voss. Boss. That _rhymes_ , Boss... I made a rhyme..."

Little pieces started falling into place from all over, and Jimmy pushed his glasses up on his nose. He moved to sit across from his friend.

"You're not mad at Kate at all, are you, Tony?"

Jimmy studied the confused grin as Tony considered the question.

"Mad at Kate? Who could be mad at Kate? _Katey's_ just bein' herself. Everybody should be themself...theirself? Themselves. Shouldn't they, Palmer?"

"Of course they should, Tony. Isn't that what you think?"

"I think so."

Jimmy sighed and rose yet again. "I'm getting you a pillow and a blanket, Tony."

"Mmph. Thanks...tha'd be swell."

"Don't mention it." Jimmy proceeded to make the older man comfortable, even remembering to take off his shoes, then he turned down the lights and headed off to bed.

"Good night, Tony."

"G'night, Palmer. 'Night, Boss."


	3. More Jimmy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Palmer seriously gets into what is bothering Tony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone reading these stories - you are all wonderful! :-)  
> This is the sequel to the very short Chapter Two, and I hope it doesn't disappoint. Jimmy cares about Tony and that is where I was coming from. I don't think it needs any further explanation.  
> Disclaimer: Nah.  
> Spoilers: Yeah. Dead Man Talking and a tiny reference to Jimmy and a female character, near the end.  
> Warnings: Um, no but let me know if something bothers you. I didn't polish this one up very much.  
> Feedback: YES! I want and need it!

**What the Team Saw - Chapter Three: More Jimmy**

Was Agent DiNozzo immune to hangovers? Jimmy was a little queasy, a bit swollen of head and furry of tongue, but Tony was up and about as if he hadn't drunk dangerous amounts of liquor, wine, and beer just a few hours prior. He was dressed, humming, and clattering in the kitchen when Jimmy emerged, bleary and blinking. Okay, another legendary drinker with an iron constitution - he really shouldn't be surprised, Palmer thought with a sigh until he saw the clutter Tony was clattering with.

Bottled OJ, tomato juice, Alka-Seltzer, vitamins, the whole kit. Tony's back-pack sat open on the island and Jimmy watched him play happily with his morning-after supplies, his movements determined and practiced.

"Oh, hey Palmer!"

"Good morning, Tony. I...I guess I didn't expect you to be up..." It was the first time DiNozzo had gotten smashed enough to stay over.

"You got any eye cream, firming gel, anything like that? I can't find mine and good looks like this don't come cheap."

"Uh, no... I don't think so." Jimmy was trying to wrap his head around all that Tony was revealing to him this weekend, and there it was again - that feeling of irritation. Tony was as glib this morning as he had been upset the night before.

"I can hear you thinking, Palmer." Tony caught his eye for the first time and shot him a sour look before flashing his teeth. "You should come on my run with me." The second statement caught Jimmy off guard and he instantly felt bad for scrutinizing the older man, for judging him. An awful lot went into being an armed federal agent.

"Run? Oh, God, how can you even... You drank three times as much as I did!"

"You really have no idea, do you? You work out?"

Jimmy grinned sheepishly. "Only in climate-controlled comfort. I guess criminals don't give you guys that option, do they?"

"Not as a rule."

"And if your fitness evals dropped, Agent Gibbs would probably skin you..."

Tony's head snapped around at the mention of the name and the younger man's brain did another twist, catching up a step with what his ears had been telling him the evening before. The flash in Tony's eyes disappeared behind his game-face, and Jimmy changed the subject.

"Feel free to borrow my shower when you get back, if you want."

"Thanks, Palmer, I will."

Jimmy took another look at the determined set of DiNozzo's mouth and blurted, "How do you do it, Tony?"

The grin was back. "It's not that hard, Jimmy-boy. You just don't think about it." Tony grabbed a bottle of water and was gone.

* * *

 

Well, whatever "it" was, Tony had certainly been thinking about it last night.

Forensic medicine was teaching Jimmy there was more to everything than met the eye. Dr. Mallard was of the belief that there was more to every _one,_ and he should know. The doctor also put a high premium on compassion and it was through this lens that the young Palmer considered Agent DiNozzo as he jogged out the door, accompanied by the things about which he did not think.

And as for that, wasn't it sometimes true that not thinking about something was another way of saying you thought about it all the time? Now Jimmy could hear him _self_ thinking, but he couldn't have stopped if he'd wanted to. His mind was puzzling on the knot that was Tony, and he knew it wouldn't rest until it had worked at least a few strands loose.

Sometimes he liked to imagine Dr. Mallard at his shoulder with his ready wisdom, and Jimmy did so now, not wanting his concern for Tony to fall to the level of an unseemly curiosity. "Unseemly" was very much in the Dr. Mallard vocabulary - it carried more censure than "inappropriate" and less hostility than "none of your damn business," which would undoubtedly be the Gibbs version.

_Gibbs._

_Boss._

_You should be worried 'bout_ him, _Katey._

_I made a rhyme, Boss._

_'Night Boss._

Jimmy mulled Tony's mutterings and began to feel something he recognized - the thrill of revelation. It came with the discovery of pathology within the human body, the tell-tale signs of disease or more sadly, a cause of death. It was something from which the pursuer did not flinch, not if he cared about the truth and not if he wanted to be of any help. Could the same hold true for a friendship? Did he have any right to delve into what ailed Tony's heart?

Some solid assessment was in order if Jimmy were going to continue down this path. The people he worked with weren't perfect, but in his opinion they stood apart from much of the rest of the world by not putting themselves first. Whether their passion was for pure knowledge or for justice, their foremost quality was dedication and it was this that Jimmy felt he legitimately held in common with them, green as he was.

So what was it about last night that had not only aroused his caring instincts but was pissing him off? Was the alcohol indeed a truth serum or only a poison that muddled both thought and feeling? Tony had displayed sorrow over Pacci and regret for Commander Voss. He'd used the pronoun "she" where others had surely referred to Voss as "he," deeming his transformation bizarre, or in the case of Kate, laughable. Tony had refused to be angry at Kate, calling her insensitivity a form of honesty. His concern for Gibbs had been complex at the very least, both protective and wistful, in a word - personal. What if anything was Tony saving for himself? That bitter irony that had set Jimmy's teeth on edge?

_To thine own self be true._

_Everybody should be themselves, shouldn't they, Palmer?_

_Of course they should, Tony. Isn't that what you think?_

_I think so._

_'Night Boss._

Oh, Tony.

Agent DiNozzo would be back from his run soon enough and Jimmy was already very nervous. He washed his face and did a few dishes. He put away the pillow and blanket he'd provided for Tony's scant comfort. He had a short inner exchange with Dr. Mallard, and in his heart did the only thing he thought was right, what his friends did at the end of the day, of every day. He took a stand.

* * *

 

Tony had scarcely gotten through the door before Jimmy began, afraid of losing his nerve and certain he was quaking visibly.

"Welcome back, Tony. H...how was your run? Are, are you feeling more like yourself?"

"Thanks. Fine. Sure, I guess..." Tony replied after a quick glance and a breathless snort, then his gaze hardened as he realized Jimmy had been waiting for him, just standing there stock-still in the middle of the living room. "...whatever that's supposed to mean. Alright, Palmer, what's up?"

Jimmy had expected no less, and he forged onward, lightheaded and frankly terrified. "I...I'm talking about you being bisexual, Tony."

Agent DiNozzo froze in pure shock, long enough for Jimmy to see his gaze turn inward before the reaction kicked in, too little and too late. He looked over his shoulder as though Jimmy must be addressing someone else, and when his head swiveled back around his eyes were a little wild. "Palmer! You should have told me you'd taken up crack-smoking, I could have gotten you some help..."

Jimmy was shaking in earnest now, could feel the perspiration on his face, but he refused to look away from Tony's eyes, not even when he had to push his glasses back up on his nose. He cleared his throat and forced the words out in a trembling voice, uttering silent prayers for his continued existence and feeling his own eyes going wider all the while.

"You're in love with Agent Gibbs..."

Tony paled and then colored by turns. He strode forward, barely containing himself. His brows arced toward his hairline and his mouth opened, but no amount of incredulity was answer to such a direct assault and they both knew it. Breathing hard, they stared at one another in silence. Jimmy wanted to fall through the floor or perhaps just pass out, but it was too late to do anything.

"You ever been thrown out of your own apartment, Palmer?" Tony's voice was low and dangerous. "Via the window?"

Jimmy's nervous system was telling his every fiber to flee, so he concentrated on his feet, instructing them not to move. By some miracle they didn't, and he knew the grudging respect he saw in Tony's eyes was to be taken seriously. Their gazes remained locked, but Jimmy calmed the pounding of his heart and engaged his vision, watching as Tony DiNozzo weighed the situation at hand. The older man pursed his lips and exhaled through his nose, then nodded towards the bathroom, his hands moving distractedly at the ends of his arms.

"I'm going to take that shower, Palmer. Then I'm going to come back out. When I do that, when I come back out...? If you're dumb enough to still be where I can see you? And this is only because you put me up overnight, mind you..." Tony stilled and shook his head before turning away. "I guess we can talk. Your call."

* * *

 

Jimmy collapsed on the couch and absently noted the closing of the bathroom door and the sound of running water. After he finished checking himself for signs of stroke he cleaned the coffee table and sat down to wait, a little undone by the permission he'd been granted and hoping he knew what to say now that he had it, if he really did have it. He'd reinterpreted much of his experience of Tony, and of Gibbs, while Tony had been out running, but that didn't change the fact that he'd likely bitten off more than he could chew.

Almost before he knew it a freshly showered and dressed Tony was sitting across from him - calm and earnest, aware and calculating - and Jimmy knew that the awe in which he held DiNozzo and the other field agents was not unearned. For some reason he grinned idiotically, and Tony smiled back in warning.

"Okay, Palmer, spill. Out with it. Tell me about this little theory of yours."

Jimmy fought off a moment of bewilderment, suddenly uncertain of who sat before him. _Agent_ DiNozzo could take and wield the upper hand, eat him for lunch if he so chose, so Jimmy did as he was told...and spilled.

"Tony." _Tony._ "It was last night - you were _so_ drunk and you talked about Agent Pacci, and Kate, and Commander Voss, and who she was and what happened, and I'm sorry but it just felt like you were talking about _you_ too. And then when I left you alone all you could talk about was Gibbs. You were so worried about him. And you should be mad at Kate but you weren't. It seemed like maybe you thought everybody had the right to be himself but you, and that got me really upset, Tony. Then you told Gibbs good night and he wasn't even here..."

Tony steepled his fingers and interrupted, "...and this led you to conclude...what, exactly? You're talking to a DiNozzo, Palmer, and DiNozzos don't set off anybody's gaydar."

The DiNozzo in question was pulling out all the stops, looking at him as though he were a suspect, or a liar, or a specimen. Jimmy felt a wave of humiliation wash over him, and something in him snapped. To his great astonishment he was on his feet and yelling, "It doesn't have anything to do with _gaydar,_ Tony - you _LOVE_ him! A complete _moron_ could have seen it!"

Tony rose just as quickly. "Maybe a complete moron _DID!"_

"That's not fair, Tony! I'm trying to..."

"Palmer, what is your _DEAL?_ What makes you think you can talk to me like this!"

"I...I don't have a deal, Tony, that's just it. And you know what? You, all of you, you talk to _me_ any way you want, and you know why? Because I don't have a _deal._ You call me names and treat me like a nerd and I let you because that's exactly who I am... I'm a geek and I love superheroes and the dance and I even love embroidery for crying out loud! I'm the first person who gets asked to leave the room and I don't expect that to change any time soon. And even with all that I'm not afraid you're not going to like me, because it doesn't ma... "

 _"Palmer..."_ The other man's voice was suddenly soft, and tired. Jimmy blinked away his surprise and fell silent. Tony paced the room and returned, rubbing a hand through his hair and wrinkling his forehead.

"It's okay, Palmer. You and your new age-y self-acceptance, that's all good, really it is." Jimmy's heart raced as he watched Agent DiNozzo's throat constrict painfully, saw Tony reach a decision and after a long pause, reach out to him with his eyes.

"You're not me, Jimbo," Tony said quietly. "You're not a jock, you're not a cop, and you're not talking about your freaking sexuality."

"But Tony, you _are,_ it's _your_ life..."

"And _my_ life, Palmer, has been nothing _but_ deals, start to finish."

"So...that's it? Tony..." and Jimmy had no idea why he said what he did next. "He...he's not going to think you're as messed up as Voss."

Tony studied the floor and when he looked up Jimmy could have slapped himself for the honest anguish in his friend's eyes. He almost didn't hear the whisper. "I'm more messed up than Voss."

Jimmy licked his lips and shook his head vigorously and repeatedly. "No, Tony, _no_ way! Voss went to all that trouble to be herself but then she killed people. That was her, not you. She was going to shoot you...you could never be that messed up."

"Oh, really? What's more messed up than a closet case?"

"Please don't talk about yourself like that."

"Gibbs can't know." Tony's voice had too much grim resignation in it and Jimmy was spun around by another flash of intuition.

"Tony! What makes you think he doesn't!"

"He _doesn't,_ and he _can't,_ and he _shouldn't,_ because he doesn't know what it's like."

"You can't be certain of that."

"He's been married three times..."

"And divorced. And you pretend to like women..."

"I do like women..."

"Okay, you pretend to _want_ women when what you really want is right next to you, every day. How do you know it's not the same for him, that you're not the same?" Jimmy knew Tony had to be getting very tired, so he rushed on. "You think there's no way Gibbs is getting on board, but Tony, if that were true don't you think you'd know it? I'm telling you none of this is settled. If there were nothing coming from his side - I mean you wouldn't be thinking about it at all, right? I'm going over what I've seen, Tony, and I've seen you really _look_ at him. Maybe you're too busy worrying about it to notice the way he looks at _you._ Will you promise me you'll think about that?"

"Oh for God's sake Palmer..." Tony broke off and cocked his head. "That was a pretty decent speech, actually."

Jimmy was grateful beyond belief that one of them had found a way to turn off the tap, to stem the exhausting flow of tension. "I sound like a goofball."

"Yeah, you do. And no promises."

"Okay."

"And Palmer...Jimmy. Two things."

"Sure, Tony. Anything."

"One. This is not a topic for discussion. I hear any of this from anybody else and they'll never find your body."

"Agreed," and Jimmy wasn't even tempted to laugh.

"Two - why do you care?"

"I - I don't know, Tony." Jimmy coughed because he _was_ tempted to cry, but he smiled weakly and adjusted his glasses instead. "I just do."

* * *

 

The next few months were an exciting time for Jimmy Palmer. He learned he could keep a secret, and that the secret was safest with him because people thought him such an open book in the first place. He learned that the less he talked the more he saw. He learned that he could keep a friendship by risking it, and it didn't bother him that Tony didn't visit him or talk to him, that he hardly even acknowledged him for weeks. In fact he considered that a good thing and he considered himself quite clever for thinking so. If DiNozzo had been the same it would have meant nothing had changed. Instead, Tony was keeping the promise he never made, without saying a word.

Jimmy also sharpened his investigative and undercover skills. He popped into the bullpen and he appeared inexplicably in Interrogation/Observation, or outside the door to MTAC. His co-workers tended to write this behavior off as youthful attention-seeking, and even Agent Gibbs shooed him away with something approaching affection - some of the time.

His habit of being anywhere, nowhere, and everywhere also made it ridiculously easy to steal time with a dark-eyed agent from legal who was a tiger in the sack, but his true secret agenda would remain unknown to the others for a long time to come. For weeks he saw Agent DiNozzo's anxiety peak in the presence of Agent Gibbs. He accepted this as part of a process and kept his hopes up and his eyes sharp. He felt certain he was the only one who saw Gibbs slowly but surely react, traversing the spectrum from annoyance to puzzlement to what looked like amazed realization. He was sure it didn't register with anyone else when Tony began standing closer to Gibbs, as he had once done. They didn't know what Jimmy knew, so it was all the same to them.

For a bit Gibbs would become more angry or Tony more brooding, but then it leveled out and only Jimmy didn't offer crackpot theories about the men's individual moods. One morning he saw the backs of their hands brush in the elevator. Later that day Tony caught his eye in passing without moving a single muscle in his face, and Jimmy smiled to beat the band.

Then there came the night Tony's car never left the Yard.

By the time Tony finally appeared at his door one evening, Jimmy felt they were in many respects very different people from who they had been those many months before. Tony smiled with an easy grace and let himself in with a flourish and a six-pack rather than a groan and an armload of hard liquor. Jimmy didn't stammer, he winked and shook Tony's free hand.

"Wanna start with coffee tonight, Palmer?" Tony set the six-pack down. It wasn't a necessity, only an option. “It’s been a while.”

"Sure. I'll go make that coffee now. Then I'm going to come back out." DiNozzo raised an eyebrow and motioned him on. "When that happens, Tony? When I come back out...? If you're still where I can see you...?"

Tony's grin grew wide and Jimmy matched it. "We can talk," Jimmy said. "Your call."

* * *

 

**Thank you for reading, comments welcome! :-)**


	4. Abby and Ducky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The summer after Season One, not long after Ch.3: More Jimmy. Tony is over his angst, there is now Tibbs, and the club is growing. Hope you have a sweet tooth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heartfelt thanks to readers and commenters, tweeps, and very kind supporters. You mean the world. I am still using the amazing miss LaiaDeLaLuz as audiencer - using her shamelessly. A shout-out to Joss80, just because. Nothing really spoilery here, nothing I'm planning to steal and pawn, either. Hope the simultaneous POV'S don't drive anyone too crazy, and I would love to hear what you think of the chapter! :-)

**What the Team Saw - Chapter Four: Abby and Ducky**

Gibbs breathed a gentle order, murmured it against the nipple he was sucking.

"Come, Tony."

The younger man arched all but silently under his hands, then after a moment managed a lazy smile and a breathless _"Holy crap._ Good morning to you too. Mmm...thanks?"

"No problem, anything else?" Smirking, of course.

"Uh huh, this."

Tony couldn't decide where to attack Gibbs first so he settled for all over as sunlight crested the sill of the open window. It was early summer, and though the day would soon become hot the dawn was cool and bright with promise. Later, downstairs, coffee and breakfast got made in between kisses, smiles, and a whole lot of general fiddling with each other.

"You always eat this much in the morning, DiNozzo?"

"I work hard, remember?"

Gibbs' answering grin turned feral as Tony colored. Each was acutely aware of how well last night's exertions had worked out, and an exhilarating tension hummed in the spaces between them as they idled away their first full morning off together. Up until now, one would go to the other's place and eventually leave, either because of work or on general principles, but last night the decision to abandon Tony's car at the Navy Yard had been abrupt, urgent even, and the knowledge had been delicious - the younger man would be staying. The pay-off in the bedroom had left both Tony and Gibbs a bit giddy and the morning was shaping up just fine as well. Gibbs was enjoying watching DiNozzo swing back and forth between shyness and what seemed exactly like undiluted joy, and Tony for his part thought the older man looked smug, that is when Gibbs wasn't spacing out just staring at him.

Nothing was mentioned about when or whether they would part for the day, and it was this newness, this threshold feeling, that had them nervous and happy and cracking beers before lunchtime. Tony studied the books on Gibbs' shelves and Gibbs studied Tony. They walked around outside, picked up leaves, pruned and watered. Tony pretended to know what he was doing and Gibbs almost pretended to believe him as the younger man performed small tasks and admired the hedge.

"This is nice, Gibbs - doing all this yourself."

"Not one to let another man mow my yard, Tony."

"Good to know." Tony smiled, because Gibbs said the most thrilling things.

It wasn't yet noon when the two went back inside, leaving their grass-dampened shoes and socks just inside the door. The coffee table became a buffet of sandwiches, chips, and more beer. Tony had borrowed a pair of long, loose gym-shorts and Gibbs found himself becoming fascinated by the younger man's knees, of all things - a pair of healthy, perfectly bendable knees. He hadn't thought about the boat all day. The crappy black-and-white buzzed in the background as Tony brushed a crumb or two off Gibbs' shirt. Not for the first time, the warmth of that chest ignited his fingertips and raced up his arms, bringing a flush to his neck.

And thus it was that neither noticed the silhouette until it was standing before them - overalls, tool belt, hardhat, and pigtails. A long moment stretched out before everyone spoke at once.

"Gibbs?"  
"Hey Abbs."  
"Oh look, it's Abby!"  
"Um, hi Tony."

For the first time anyone could remember, the young woman wasn't talking a mile a minute, so Gibbs took the reins.

"I didn't forget, Abbs. Habitat. Two hammers and a saw. Be right back."

He _had_ forgotten, but it was easily remedied and he headed for the basement despite DiNozzo's don't-leave-me-here look - and if Tony thought a barrage of questions was forthcoming he was mistaken. Abby had misplaced her voice and was clearly somewhere in her own head. Gibbs was back in a flash with the promised tools which he placed in her unmoving hands.

"Thanks, Bossman, you're the best," Abby said, recovering some of her poise. Gibbs reclaimed his spot on the couch and cocked an eyebrow.

"Got time for lunch, Abbs?"

Smiling, Tony demonstrated the concept by shoving a chip in his mouth and the young woman's beautiful face finally took on some of its usual animation. She smiled in turn but bypassed the lunch question, never taking her saucer eyes off Tony. Her voice trembled slightly.

"Tony...where is your _car?"_

Anthony DiNozzo and Jethro Gibbs looked at each other and burst out laughing.

* * *

 

After Abby left Gibbs looked at Tony significantly over a sip of beer.

"So that's one?"

"Two, actually." Tony grimaced and instinctively leaned out of head-slap range. "Palmer."

 _"Palmer?"_ Noslap - Gibbs merely picked up a sandwich and shook his head as he considered the ubiquitous Autopsy Gremlin. "Sly dog, that one. What did you threaten him with?"

"Nothing! Well...ok, his life, but... "

"But what?"

"You seem pretty sanguine about this, Gibbs."

Jethro shrugged and raised a hand to Tony's shoulder, giving it a squeeze, and his trademark smirk was both amused and reassuring.

"Matter of time."

* * *

 

Something was wrong with Abby. Dr. Mallard always enjoyed the young scientist's rapid-fire speech and enthusiastic view of the world. He relished the tales of her odd assortment of friends and the delight she took in helping others. They had dinner together almost every weekend and they rarely talked shop or gossiped about their co-workers. This night they were at a restaurant instead of Ducky's home, and though the young woman had quickly eaten a large meal and slurped two colorful, oversized cocktails, she seemed subdued. It was a cliche, but he could see the wheels turning.

"Abigail, are you going to tell me what is on your mind? Miss Sciuto...?"

"Ducky, I think I surprised Gibbs and Tony."

Dr. Mallard wasn't sure what to make of such a statement on its face, nor could he imagine why it might account for the marked change in Abby's behavior - she was waiting for him to say something.

"Well, you can be a very surprising young woman, Abigail...why are you upset?"

"I'm not upset, I'm...overwhelmed? I don't know - this isn't normal for me."

"My dear girl, whatever did you do?"

"Oh!" Abby said, startled. _"I_ didn't do anything! I mean I didn't _do_ anything. Except I did, I borrowed two hammers and a saw, that was pre-arranged, but... if I'm right, this is _huge_ and I can't just go around talking about it."

"Abby." Dr. Mallard looked at her sternly but not unkindly. "You are doing nothing of the sort. You are speaking with me, alone, and you have yet to tell me anything."

Abby took a deep breath and seemed to gather herself. "Okay. What happened is...I went to Bossman's house and I just walked in like I always do, like everybody does, and I'm almost completely one-hundred-percent certain I surprised them, _them._ Gibbs. And Tony."

Ducky grew still and searched Abby's face for the meaning in her words. He locked gazes with her, lowered his voice and spoke very slowly indeed. "When you say 'them,' my dear, am I to take it you mean...?"

"Yes, Ducky!" Abby nodded, both excited and solemn almost to the point of tears. "Gibbs _with_ Tony."

"Oh, my!" Ducky sat back in the comfortable booth and took a moment to lose himself in thought regarding his best friend - and a Very Special Agent. When he brought his focus back to Abby, her eyes had narrowed, but only a little.

"Ducky, can it be true? Is it possible? I mean, I see them at work, and they're good for each other, and cute, and it makes so many kinds of sense, and that's great and everything, but it's not the same as actually..."

Dr. Mallard leaned forward again, having decided to proceed. "Would it help if I were to play devil's advocate?"

"Oh God yes, please!"

"Very well, then. Please begin. What did you see?"

"Um, okay. Tony at Gibbs' house."

"Anthony looks up to Jethro. Visiting his home would not be unusual."

"At eleven in the morning? Barefoot?"

Ducky arched an eyebrow. "It _is_ summer, my dear..."

"They were eating lunch, side by side, on the couch."

"Also customary. Jethro's kitchen table is quite dreary."

"Oh, Ducky!" Abby wailed, spurred on by his arguments. "That room was light-years from dreary! They were grinning _stupidly_ at each other, and Tony was blushing and their hair was messed up and they didn't even notice me for like ten seconds, and I don't think there's any way Tony owns a USMC T-shirt, and Gibbs offered me a sandwich like he didn't care, but I couldn't stay and then they started cracking up, and I never saw, I mean, Tony's car..."

Ducky pulled a smirk worthy of Leroy Jethro Gibbs on a good day. "...is still at the Navy Yard."

 _"DUCKY!"_ Abby almost screamed, betrayed. "You knew!"

"No, Abby," and the young woman's tears began to flow when she saw the mist in the doctor's eyes. "Hoped, only hoped."

* * *

 

Within about a week Dr. Mallard had satisfied his requirements with a thorough if surreptitious examination of the Gibbs and Tony question. He knew he was too interested to disregard his bias, but he was also fully fluent in Gibbs, and the man's body language had been a dead give-away. That, and Jethro's face was quite expressive once you knew what you were looking at. Tony was just plain happy, in a way that contradicted much of the pain Ducky often sensed from the man who seemed compelled to behave like a boy.

Mr. Palmer's hovering over Agent DiNozzo was mildly distracting but easily dealt with - Jimmy idolized Tony, and he stammered at the mere mention of Gibbs, so Ducky ensured there were supplies to be counted and pipettes to be cleaned. There was no point in pulling the young and somewhat hapless assistant in over his head.

Abby supplied a stream of informative emails, and the doctor had to admit that her trendy language was every bit as solid as his psychological profiling when it came to compiling emotional data. She no doubt was dying to run bits of Tony and Gibbs through Major Mass Spec, or better yet her DNA equipment, but since there was no excuse for it she settled for an empirical match-maker's shorthand of her own design - ISX for "eye sex" and MV for "monster vibes." LTR, or "I think I need to leave the room," was a mite subjective for Ducky's taste but got the point across.

The doctor chose the field of battle and made certain his first volley was a gentle one, lobbed airily at Gibbs after a routine discussion of evidence down in Autopsy.

"Jethro, I must say you are looking well this morning! To what may I attribute the spring in your step?"

Ducky was aware that Gibbs was never fooled by such overtures and that he would play along in the hope of staving off the actual question.

"It's a nice day, Duck. Nothing wrong with enjoying a nice day."

"Wrong? I should say not! My conjecture would be that something is rather exceptionally right."

Gibbs' shoulders slumped and he turned back to Ducky with a look of suffering. It was defensive move number two and it was right on schedule, so the doctor carried on blithely, "I would even venture to say that love is in the air!"

"Duck!" Gibbs' brows were ferocious, but the older man was immune to the entire arsenal of glares, and he continued without pause, only now he became serious and he held Gibbs' gaze with kindness rather than glee.

"Jethro, are you in fact seeing someone again?"

Much to Dr. Mallard's surprise Gibbs did not turn on his heel and flee the room in a huff but instead appeared caught by the words. He looked into the near distance before responding with a bemused grin and a touch of wonder.

"Nope, Duck, I'm seeing someone for the first time."

The contest was over in that moment, and Ducky let a long pause expire before he smiled with all the grace of his years.

"And young Anthony?"

Gibbs' eyes went very wide but he held his place and cleared his throat, glancing downward and then up again, saying only, "...is good, Duck. He's good."

"He is in good company, Jethro," the Doctor replied. "And among friends."

Gibbs nodded and finally turned to go. When he got back to the bullpen he stomped over to Dinozzo's desk. Tony looked up in alarm to see Gibbs rolling his eyes, but the older man didn't look _entirely_ displeased, and Tony realized Gibbs was indicating something with his fingers, for Tony's sight only.

"Ducky?" Tony asked quietly. Gibbs gave confirmation with his eyes, and Tony shrugged before the moment could draw out any further.

"Okay, then." He grinned brightly. "Three."

* * *

 

_feedback welcome =)_


	5. A Sandwich, Some Thoughts, and McGee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...these people were crazy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're back. No profit, no spoilers, no warnings, and many thanks! I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know! :-)

**What the Team Saw - Chapter Five: A Sandwich, Some Thoughts, and McGee**

Tim McGee was afraid of his boss. Really afraid. The man had a short fuse and high expectations. He used a blunt, irascible kind of non-language that was laced, no _loaded_ with sarcasm, grunts, and nearly indecipherable sayings, a keep-up-if-you-can road test, a survival course of sorts.

Between Gibbs' terrifying teaching moments and DiNozzo's dizzying babble, sometimes McGee wondered if he were in the right place, if becoming a field agent had been his aim or just a freak accident. His native tribe - gamers, geeks, and techies -  they had their quirks, but these people were _crazy._

Case in point. Tony flung himself out of the elevator and sashayed into the middle of the bullpen, jiving and spinning until Gibbs narrowed his eyes painfully and Kate gritted her teeth. Unfazed, DiNozzo pimp-rolled over to Gibbs' desk and dropped a food bag with a wink and a loud thunk.

"Got your favorite sandwich, Boss!"

"?"

"Italian Sub!"

Gibbs snorted aloud and then blanked his expression, his way of being funny. Tony subsided to his desk and began to work, and Tim thought his smile became thoughtful and satisfied. Somehow Tony had just gotten what he wanted. The sandwich and the snort were connected in some way. He should probably do a web search, or cross-reference something.

Kate on the other hand was seething, stabbing at her keyboard and sighing. Tim's IM icon flashed and Kate's rant appeared.

"DiNozzo is disgusting. I'm surprised he didn't lick Gibbs' face."

Tim just looked at her with round eyes. Sure, Tony followed Gibbs like a puppy, unabashed in his approval-seeking, but there was more to it. Tony wasn't afraid. He made angsty little noises when Gibbs was on a tear, he jumped and shied like everyone else, but he teased and challenged too, like he _wasn't_ scared, not really. Tim was no psychologist but he thought Todd was competing with DiNozzo in a way that was hindering her observation.

McGee was so green it didn't occur to him to compete with Tony, nor would it for a while yet to come. He bragged about his degrees but that was about it. He still became genuinely rattled when Tony mocked or Gibbs yelled and dripped scorn. He didn't have Kate's experience, he didn't have Kate's anything, so he studied Gibbs and DiNozzo as if his life depended on it, which it did.

So far the rules seemed fairly clear. You could compete with anyone when doing your job, but you couldn't compete with DiNozzo for Gibbs. The reverse was also true, judging by the number of females, and males, Gibbs sent scurrying away from Tony in the field.

Then there was the touching - the grabbing of the arm and the headslaps. Gibbs was hands-on, no doubt about it, but McGee only got thwacked if Gibbs were well and truly angry, while with Tony it was almost a reward. It was discipline, but it was still touching. Frequent touching.

Gibbs also seemed to enjoy sneaking up on Tony a little more than others, and when it was DiNozzo riding the clicker while Gibbs stormed around the bullpen? Well, the capaciousness of the office didn't prevent Gibbs from hovering an inch from Tony's backside. Kate seemed to believe this all meant Tony was a bad agent and a worse person, in need of constant correction, but McGee saw it differently, especially late at night when the Senior Agent and his SFA could be found still working a case, lounging elbow-to-elbow behind a single desk.

Kate took in these scenes with utter bewilderment, and at least two mornings a week she fell for some ridiculous boast or gross display from Tony.

"EEWWW! DiNozzo, you're changing your shirt in front of me again! I don't see how you think any woman..."

McGee, unlike Tony, strove valiantly not to sneak looks at Gibbs during these exchanges.

If it was odd, it was also normal. They were crazy after all. Tony was slippery as a fish and Gibbs was the definition of alpha male. Alpha plus crazy - the kind of guy who despite all appearances might be up for anything? Stranger things had happened, Tim supposed.

Whatever the case, Tony had a whole hell of a lot more than the man's approval. No one would get anywhere by putting DiNozzo down, which come to think of it, Tony made far too easy. Gibbs would judge you on your own merits, and on his terms.

So when Abby called to insist they meet for dinner, saying she had something to tell him, something crucial and known to only two others, something she'd learned by accident or mistake and could contain no longer, McGee knew he was in big trouble.

* * *

 

"Tony said it was okay. Sort of. He didn't say it wasn't."

"Abigail, I am still not certain a production of this magnitude was warranted. Wouldn't it be better to simply ask Timothy what he knows and take it from there?"

"No, no, that's not going to work..." Palmer mumbled, shaking his head.

"Ducky, I can't stand to see him so befuddled anymore! Just standing around, staring - he makes _me_ confused. It's painful to watch."

Jimmy broke in. "Tony trusts Tim. We have to believe he'll understand."

"What's there to understand, Palmer? They're not doing anything wrong!"

"I know that, Abby. I was there at the beginning, remember?"

"No, I don't remember! You didn't tell a soul!"

"It wasn't okay just then, Abby. Dr. Mallard agrees with me."

"I'm afraid he's right, Abigail. It seems Mr. Palmer is not the babe-in-the-woods I believed him to be, and he got the drop on all of us. I daresay his decision to 'hide and watch' was the correct one, at the time."

"And now Tony needs his friends on his side, in case someone decides to be Not Nice. McGee should know. What's your honest opinion, Ducky?"

"There is still Jethro to consider. He is a very private man."

"Gibbs won't care!" Abby exclaimed, and then admiringly, "He's kind of badass that way."

"Well then, since neither man has strictly prohibited expanding the inner circle.."

After the briefest of pauses Abby and Jimmy spoke in unison.

"Kate isn't ready."

* * *

 

Tim approached O'Malley's Pub like a man mounting the steps to the gallows. Every time he did something smart he followed it with something at least equally dumb, and he should have known Gibbs wouldn't put up with it for long.

He spotted Abby, Ducky, and Palmer at a high-top, and their apprehensive faces did nothing to reassure him, their weak smiles and sidelong glances confirming that there was grave and sensitive knowledge afoot. That was the way he saw it anyway, and since there was a beer waiting for him, McGee decided to get on with things. There was no reason for everyone to suffer.

"Guys I think I might already know what you're going to tell me..."

"So you're okay with it?" Abby asked, blinking hopefully.

"Okay with it? Why would I be okay with it!" Tim said irritably. "Assuming it's true, of course."

"Timmy we wouldn't tell you something that isn't true! Especially something so important!"

"That's what I was afraid of..."

"McGee, I'm surprised at you! I'm going to be really disappointed if..."

"Look, if it's true Tony should have warned me and Gibbs should tell me himself. But have they? No. So, you know what, I'll believe it when I hear it from HR."

"Huh?"  
"What?"

"Or the Director."

"Oh, dear!"

"McGee, um... " Abby trailed off and looked to the others for help.

Ducky just lifted an eyebrow and shrugged. Jimmy took a deep breath.

Tim frowned, slumping. "Alright. I can handle it. Give it to me straight." 

Abby's lips curved and her husky voice bubbled with laughter. "We can't exactly give it to you _straight,_ McGee..."

"Tim, when two people love each other very much..." Jimmy began, and Ducky groaned aloud, raising a hand to his brow. _"Palmer!"_ Abby shrieked and punched Jimmy in the arm. "He's not a complete child! He knows his way around a coffin!"

Confused silence reigned for a moment before Ducky took over. "Timothy," he said very firmly. "Agent Gibbs and Agent DiNozzo - Jethro and Anthony..."

"Abby walked in on them!"  
"Jimmy got Tony drunk!"  
"Did not!"

"...are _together."_

Mcgee's full bottom lip bobbed once or twice as he blinked and sat up straight. "Oh. OH!  You mean..."

"Yes, Timothy. I know it seems a lot to accept..."

Tim gestured all around.  "...you mean this whole thing was about _Gibbs and Tony?"_ He blew out a sigh. "Thank God. I thought I was getting fired!"

Three blank gazes regarded Tim for a few seconds before Abby thrust out her chin and narrowed her eyes to mere slits.

"You're not surprised. Timothy McGee, WHY ARE YOU NOT SURPRISED?!"

Mcgee's baby face was the picture of innocence and his shrug was simplicity itself.

"I...I just kind of figured."

Amid the ensuing clamor it was agreed Tim would buy the next round of drinks.

* * *

 

It took a while, but McGee finally caught DiNozzo at his desk when the entire rest of the office was empty.

"Ah, Tony...?"

"Yes, Probie-Wan? Speak!"

"Um, Jimmy and Ducky and Abby..."

"I know. She told me. After the fact. You had 'the talk.’”

"Were you ever going to say anything?"

"Sure I was!  No, probably not."

"Why not?"

"Can't really picture announcing it, McGee. Besides, as much as I torture you, I didn't want to put you at a disadvantage. In your head."

Tim rolled his eyes. "Tony, as much as you torture me, I can promise you it wouldn't have mattered."

"But you worked it out didn't you, my little Probo-cop? Abby told me what you said. You know, if you asked anyone in the world if Leroy Jethro Gibbs... well... I think 'just kind of figured' would be the very last answer on the list."

"Believe me, Tony, I realize that. I'm assuming it's just you."

"Far as I know," Tony replied cheekily. "You have a secret spreadsheet, don't you? You used some algorithm thingy."

Tim's brows shot together. "...No."

"You so did. I don't know what's more interesting about you McGee - the stuff you can figure out or the stuff you can't. You thought you were getting _fired?"_

"Can we just forget about that? Please? And no, it was Gibbs. Among other things, he gets between you and every woman. And acts all pissed."

"Okay, okay!" A big smile as Tony considered the ceiling. "He does, doesn't he? Guess you wouldn't need an algorithm for that, though I wouldn't put it past you..."

"But you still talk about bikinis and hot dates. And you tell people _I'm_ gay. What's up with that?"

"That's just habit McGee. And you gotta admit, the chauvinist pig routine winds Katie up like a top. It's fun. Throws people off their game."

"Well Tony, for me it's a pretty inside-out way of being someone's wingman. You ever think about that?"

"No. Maybe I should."

McGee snorted and then turned thoughtful. "Hey Tony..."

"Mm?"

"Is it weird?"

Tony's eyes popped wide and his mouth opened in a disbelieving grin. "Probie, I'm shocked! Do you mean the se...?

"No! Oh, God, no, I would never..." Tim turned bright red. "I... I  meant the Gibbs part."

"Of course you did."

Tim relaxed and peered earnestly as the older man pulled a wry face and sighed.

"The Gibbs part. Oh yeah, it's weird." Tony's grin grew happier and happier. "It's fantastic."

**=)**


	6. Interlude: What the Team Didn't See

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TIBBS. Gibbs convinces Tony that he liked his joke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More thanks for all the kind support! Disclaimer: Haven't seen a check. Warning: Just graphic M/M sex... Spoilers: Nopers. Pecans: LaiaDeLaLuz  
> Feedback: gimme, gimme...

**Interlude: What the Team Didn't See**

From the very first seconds of what Tony would forever after call the Sandwich Incident, he knew the day would end with him in a compromising position with Gibbs. He just didn't expect it would happen at NCIS...

* * *

The door to the AV room closes behind him and he turns, not bothering to hide his surprise. Tony is aware of Gibbs in about every way possible, but the man can still follow him silently and invisibly. Gibbs stands before him as if he's never explained anything in his whole life and doesn't plan to start now - he's always the one demanding the answers, and his posture says he knows what he wants, just like always.

Professionally this is an expected, trusted form of leadership. Personally? It is one of Gibbs' many sides, can be both irritating and exciting beyond belief. That, and Tony knows he started it.

Gibbs still hasn't said a word, has a dark gleam in his eye and the little sticker from the sandwich stuck to the end of an upraised finger. Italian Sub. Yeah, Tony _so_ started this...

Gibbs stalks toward him, single-minded. His eyes drop below Tony's waist. Tony has backed into a table and he hears something clatter on the surface behind him, hears the scrape of their feet, sees Gibbs closing in. _Audio._ _Visual._ The fronts of their thighs meet and Gibbs' hands are saying his attention is on Tony's butt. He has reached around him and is rubbing and squeezing the way he does, Tony knows, when he is going to fuck him like he's inventing better ways of fucking.

Tony's mouth goes dry. "You wanna do this _here?"_

"Nobody comes in here."

"Are you _crazy?"_ Tony hisses. "People come in here _all the time!"_

 _Gibbs_ doesn't come in here. People do it for him. People such as Tony - and McGee, who probably comes in here and jerks off all by himself, Tony thinks, looking across the room at a trove of gadgets, all while Gibbs is wetting his throat with his tongue. He realizes this is against everything he believes in. Work is where you _talk_ about sex.

Gibbs stops kneading, with one hand anyway, long enough to hold up the sticker again. His voice is so low.

"You're way off script, DiNozzo."

 _Oh my God._ Gibbs wanting to take him down at work is hot as hell but he can't see it happening. "We've got stuff at home," he wheedles. 

"It won't go to waste," Gibbs murmurs, reminds him.

Okay, but there has to be some logic here, somewhere. "Gibbs, we can't exactly get away with leaving the AV room smelling like _ass."_

Gibbs giggles, damn him. "Your ass."

"No, just n..."

"Door's locked."

"It's on a passcode!" Tony whispers fiercely, and their mouths are centimeters apart. Gibbs is rocking into him with a gentle rhythm. He seems amused.

"Gibbs I am not getting caught in here ass-up over a table!"

"I'd be on your six."

"Do you hear what you're _saying?!"_ None of the irony is lost on Tony. Not only is his horny boss calling all his bluffs, now he's a comedian. It's all happening way too fast.

Tony's brain goes into overdrive, but there's no way it's catching up with his body, or with Gibbs. He's already responding to the man's hands, his heat, his kisses, his scent, and his voice, to say nothing of the cock pressing against Tony's own. But - if the door starts to swing open he'd like to have a chance to react, to suffer a less complete exposure. Just as Gibbs begins to open his trousers Tony does the only thing he can think of and sinks to his knees.

Gibbs takes one very audible breath but doesn't miss a beat. His left hand pushes gently on Tony's right shoulder. In a single motion Tony drops and Gibbs guides. His boyfriend, not his boss, he finally gets it. He smiles and closes his eyes and then his mouth is on the soft skin of Jethro's hard dick.

And suddenly this is a very good idea. Probably what Gibbs intended all along, the sneaky bastard - so clever the way he pushed him to it - demanding and funny and he'd looked so graceful even while grabbing his cock. Only seconds ago Tony had felt a little hysterical, almost but not quite considering escape. Now the jokes have stopped, and Jethro fully erect in his face has driven away the fear.

Gibbs is practically a furnace. His heat is one of Tony's very favorite things about him, but his stiffness turns Tony on like nothing else, and he licks, _loves_ him with long swipes of his tongue, then returns to the warm head to suck. He grabs his hips and takes him deep, and Gibbs' voice comes from near above him.

"That's good Tony, real good, good boy..."

There is a hand in his hair. Gibbs is moaning softly and just barely rolling with the movements of Tony's mouth - slow, gentle hypnotic thrusts, and Tony recognizes that he's going, down, down - _god is there anything this man can't do t_ _o him?_ He's kissing thought goodbye with every brush of his lips, every capture of Gibbs' cock by his throat or tongue. 

He doesn't feel his knees on the floor, only Jethro's dick, Jethro's hands on his face, his words and sounds, affirming and filled with emotion. He has never wanted to be anywhere else when Gibbs' hands return to the back of his head and to his shoulder where they squeeze and hold, when Gibbs' cock goes utterly, perfectly straight and hard. He pulses, pushes sharply and Tony's hands are clawing at his ass. His lips touch coarse hair and his mouth fills and his throat works and it tastes so fucking good... 

Tony is exactly nowhere but Gibbs brings him to his feet and starts kissing him slowly back to awareness. His kisses acknowledge the gift, and his eyes are promising more, much more. He stops him at the door before they exit, stops him with a half-grin, a whisper, and a brush of his thumb. 

"Got a little something on your lip there, Tony." 

And so ends the Sandwich Incident. Tony is remarkably settled when he returns to the bullpen and Gibbs follows a few minutes later. They work in silence until McGee's private war with his computer escalates to a level neither can ignore. Tony smiles fondly but freezes when the younger man starts mumbling about subroutines and open ports. Gibbs leaves his chair as if launched and Tony does laugh, then. 

"Coffee!" Gibbs barks and virtually disappears in front of everyone's eyes. 

It's all back to crazy normal. Except it isn't, Tony thinks. He's thinking about the way today started with something supremely silly, about the memory that just got made in a stupid supply room, about how he got to _right here,_ and about how every place with Gibbs is someplace new.


	7. Caitlin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate learns about Gibbs and Tony and about herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took the whole summer off, traveling and checking on fams. To those of you I visited along the way (Bluefirebird, HinkyHippo, NCISLOVE, NCISVU, DiNozzosProbie, DJMichealsfics, Joss80, Josgotglock), those I chatted with but didn't get to see (LeiLadleLei, MyShame7, TriggerHappyJax, K9Lasko, Binkybella, Giblette, LAG0802, TonysMel, summersquares, AmyH, Gibbsandtonysbabe), anyone I have left out, and everybody else who sees this - THANK YOU for being bright points in my life. For reals.  
> Now, about the story: This one took a lot out of me and gave a lot back. Summary: I wanted Kate to see, and I wanted to see Kate grow. Spoilers: Huge for SWAK and Twilight, reference to Weak Link. Intent to steal or profit: None. Audiencers: Libi, Laia, Mel. ((( ))) Feedback: For the love of Gibbs and Tony, and for Kate, please and thank you! :-)

What the Team Saw - Chapter 7: Caitlin  
****************************************

_Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee..._

More coughing came from in front of her, from the man in the bed.

Entering the isolation room had been a precaution. Ducky had insisted, and Kate had gone in plucky and pajama'ed, prepared to pretend it was a slumber party if she ignored the masks everyone was wearing. She wasn't sick. Tony knew that by now, knew that at least he wasn't taking her with him. A sharp look from Nurse Emma and words from Dr. Brad Pitt had brought her down to earth about _that_ little show of support. She'd given Tony an incredibly hard time, because somehow she hadn't believed it would come to this.

His sounds were wet and desperate. She heard the fluids that were drowning him, felt the convulsions racking his chest, felt the pain in his limbs, the fever in his head, his fear. The invisible enemy taking his life away.

_Blessed art thou among women..._

_"I'm stronger than you are, DiNozzo."_

She wished to God that weren't true either. And really it wasn't. She was luckier - perhaps wiser - but not stronger.

_And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus..._

"Jesus! Get her out of here!" The medical staff went frantic and she was hustled away, blind with tears and almost frozen with terror. _Tony, the man in the bed was Tony..._

"Agent Todd, you should leave now."

_Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen._

The first tears fell and she felt her face crumple when she caught sight of Ducky on the other side of the glass. Her mind floated free and the doctor's long life flashed before her eyes. Ducky would not be praying now, nor would he be guilt-stricken, as she was. A man of science, he knew when not to question the quirks of circumstance, knew well the calculus of life and death. He wouldn't indulge in Kate's comforting ritual, having no such hedge against mortality. Mortality was his business, his ritual was talking to the dead, and people like him didn't ask for favors from God. He was paying his respects, and though he would feel no guilt, the sorrow in his eyes was infinite.

"He's dying, Ducky!" Kate cried as she groped blindly through the door, only to be thrust roughly aside.

"Ah, the hell he is!"

And suddenly Gibbs was there, larger than life, angrier than she'd ever seen him, unprotected, and ready to do battle with death.

Kate halted her flight, pulled back by the torrent of energy that was Gibbs. It was a potency she would never assign herself. It was what they all followed, and certainly there was no shame in that. She noted the shame she did feel, shame that for once she saw Gibbs' hair-raising defiance as hopeless, his posturing out of place and pathetic.

She stilled when she felt a sharp rise in attention from Ducky, though the older man didn't so much as move. Gibbs was speaking low and fast to Dr. Pitt, whose eyes registered surprise and wariness. She didn't want to be here when Gibbs had to leave the room, but incredibly Brad stepped back with a nod and Gibbs walked right up to the struggling DiNozzo.

He leaned in, and Kate saw his lips moving, saw Tony nod and try to breathe, saw some kind of conversation taking place. Gibbs was probably ordering him to stay alive, it would be just like him, but it wasn't going to do any good, and a cold cavern opened up inside of Kate, at least until she saw Gibbs' eyes.

She was accustomed to musing, or fuming, about what Gibbs' leadership meant to her and the others, but she'd had fewer opportunities to witness what it meant to him. His agitation had vanished. He was still and intent, his lips at Tony's ear. Tony's eyes were wide and full, and Kate saw him practically choke when Gibbs tapped the top of his sweaty head with a stiff but gentle palm. She even saw the "Yes, Boss," on Tony's lips.

 _Seriously?_ Kate had the sudden feeling she was witnessing something she didn't understand, familiar as it was. Something about faith. She wondered if she should be watching at all, but she couldn't look away. Gibbs' eyes willed life at Tony, other things roiling just beneath the surface - pride, affection, fear - but not leave-taking, not sorrow, not yet. Still, those things were present somewhere in the blue depths, and that frightened Kate, confused her.

More prayers jumped unbidden from her soul, it was who she was after all. _Glory be to the Father, and to the Son..._ She choked out a sob, suddenly missing her parents with all her heart. Someone to hold her hand and comfort her as Gibbs was doing with Tony. Her parents, who had given her the gift of her faith, who in sickness had tended her, or one another, with the same fierce calm. She could almost superimpose her mother and father onto the scene before her, their tenderness and courage, the bone-deep understanding and quiet, unshakeable strength... She smiled fondly, and then she gasped, knowing there was no mistake.

Gibbs was bent over Tony like a lover.

Tears sprang from Caitlin's eyes as her world turned upside down. She didn't have time to think about everything she had missed, she could do that later, but she did hear a clear voice speaking in her head, even as she continued to pray. It was the voice of the kindly young priest she had liked so much, whom she had met when an equally young Navy SEAL had plunged to his death because of what was forbidden him. _"I believe it is God's_ _love."_

As the cleansing tears finally allowed her to see, Kate stilled her wildly beating heart and prepared to take her leave, though she panicked for just a second when she saw that Gibbs was on the move. How would she justify her intrusion? _"It's Tony,"_ she told herself, but she needn't have worried. Gibbs was pressing something into Tony's hand, talking all the while and gracefully turning away as Tony's eyes closed. The smirk was faint and weary, but it was there, and when Kate saw it she knew that Tony would live and that Gibbs had done the impossible.

She turned toward Ducky, needing to know if he had seen, but the older man was long gone. Gibbs didn't meet her eyes when he exited, nor did he give any sign of offense as he left the isolation area without looking back.

* * *

 

Two weeks on the job without DiNozzo, and neither Kate nor McGee was much for oiling the hinges of team Gibbs without Tony's goofy effervescence. There was plenty of work to do, lots of actual job to fall back on, but Kate was happy to see that Gibbs wasn't staying very late. Tony was recovering at home by now, not that there was anything celebratory about the attention he was allowing to be paid to him. It had been too close a call, and even Abby dropped her energy down a notch or two as Gibbs and Ducky took over without comment from anyone.

When it became known that Tony was out of danger and soon to return, Kate and Tim found themselves talking about him more freely. The litany of DiNozzo's assault on propriety was impressive, to say the least, and Kate watched McGee with an eagle eye, wondering what he knew and wasn't telling about the mother of all dodges. Nothing passed between her and Gibbs, and she didn't think it needed to. Gibbs hadn't even been hiding, she'd decided.

Had it been anyone other than Gibbs, the walking enigma, or Tony, who was full of bull, she might have noticed. Gibbs was forever ordering Tony to eat or sleep, watching his every move, guiding him verbally and disciplining him physically. It had been easy to see that as professional. Tony's cover was so deep she'd fixed him firmly in her mind as an only slightly lovable cad. She'd assumed Gibbs found him equally irritating. She'd shut out a lot based on those beliefs, and she saw herself in hindsight, standing open-mouthed and baffled when the two men were in their groove, or when Gibbs offered up affection and praise.

As for the rest of it, well - forest for the trees. Who _doesn't_ joke around in a HazMat shower, anyway?

* * *

 

_They scrubbed and lathered and lathered and scrubbed, making random and inappropriate comments to keep their minds off what was probably anthrax at best. McGee spooked everyone by showing off._

_"You know, it might not be anthrax... there's smallpox, bubonic plague, cholera.."_

_"Probie!"_

_"...ah, foot powder, face powder, talcum powder."_

_"HONEY DUST!" Tony shouted. "I give it to girls at Christmastime - women, sorry, Kate - it's very sensuous. You apply it with a feather."_

_"You don't use the whole chicken?"_

_"Never heard of honey dust," Tim supplied._

_"It makes a woman's skin feel silky smooth!" Gibbs boomed from his shower stall, sounding like a complete dork. "When kissed, it tastes like honey."_

_All three of them stuck their heads out._

_"I got a box of honey dust last year at Christmas. No card."_

_After a very pregnant pause DiNozzo called shakily, "Uh, I think the post office screwed up, Boss! Somebody else must have gotten your bottle of Jack..."_

* * *

 

Kate caught herself almost laughing aloud. _Some profiler I am._ Okay, it was on her resume, she'd taken the courses and passed, but she knew it wasn't her strength. She wasn't suspicious enough once things got personal, and that had been personal. It had been outrageous flirting, with Gibbs pushing it right up to the line and Tony pretending to do damage control, as if he couldn't have simply chosen to say nothing. _Oh, right..._ Anyway, she'd bought it. Barely batting an eye, Tony had put forth the notion that he'd somehow mistaken a packet of sex potion for a bottle of whiskey and then mailed it to his boss. Gibbs had goaded further when the subject turned to irradiation. _"...unless the 'post office' screwed up again."_ Outrageous.

She sipped her tea and risked pausing her work for a moment. _"Tastes like honey when kissed..."_ Not flirting - a reminder, something to sit alongside the fear. Gibbs had been acknowledging the most private part of his and Tony's relationship. She fought down the shock she still felt, not only at the thought of what Tony and Gibbs presumably did as a couple, but at what the display signified. She smiled again. If Tony acted the playboy, she played the traditionalist, and here was Tony walking off with top prize - the love of a strong man.

She kept up the patter with McGee, cataloguing Tony's egregious lies about her breasts and Tim's sexuality. She swayed a little, not unhappily, in the unreality that came with having her perceptions changed overnight.

"Do you miss him as much as I do?" _Finally._

She smiled at Tim and sighed, "More."

That earned her a glance from Gibbs - not covert, merely discreet - and her already weak doubts were laid to rest. After the frenzy of Tony's infection and near-death, she'd wondered if Gibbs were being unwise in this, if the protector in him were simply over-reacting, trying to make Tony whole.

 _No_. Gibbs wouldn't do it that way, nor was he one for half-measures. She solemnly returned the barest of winks. Whatever Gibbs had with Tony, it was what she had seen at Bethesda, what Gibbs' look told her now. She would rise up like a tigress to defend it if somebody showed up and dared try taking it away. _That_ was what made her a good agent, and only slightly belatedly, a friend.

* * *

 

On his first day back, the idea of making Tony whole shrank miserably before the task of keeping him in one piece.

Gibbs wasn't exactly treating him with kid gloves, so Kate followed his lead and played the usual game, even going as far as knocking Tony on his butt after he'd already tripped and rolled down a hill. _Probably why that snake is wrapped around_ _my ankle_. The snake led to more silliness, and everything but the lieutenant's severed hands started to seem normal - until Tony spotted the bomb.

"How far did you turn the key, McGee?"

"I don't know, almost all the way, I think..."

DiNozzo took Tim's place at the car's trunk in an instant. "Let go slowly. Don't let it snap back. Then you two - run."

"Tony..."

Kate was backing away alongside McGee when they stopped as one. She could see the younger man's wide eyes pleading with Tony's. _Tim knows,_ she thought, and began arguing. "Tony, let me... You go call the bomb squad..."

"It's probably already primed."

"We're not leaving you down here!"

"It isn't a debate! I'm faster than you."

She shook her head, chin quivering. _I will not cry in front of him._

"I'm not going to die, Kate. I'll be right behind you."

Then she and Tim were hurling themselves over the embankment, shouting at the tops of their lungs. "It's the CAR!" A deafening blast and fireball chased them up the hill. Everyone hit the deck, and as Kate righted herself she saw Gibbs shove a burning tire away from his face and then go still, his hooded eyes dark and haunted. A full-blooded scream tore from her throat.

"TONYYYYYYYY!"

Gibbs' eyes were locked on the point of their ascent. When an intact DiNozzo collapsed across the crime-scene tape, Gibbs' head and shoulders dropped abruptly. His body went nearly limp, betraying for a brief moment what Kate would have thought to be inexpressible.

"Remember when I said I was fine, Boss? I lied."

Kate saw the moisture surface in Gibbs' eyes when Tony spoke. Ducky, Palmer, and McGee gathered behind her, all openly studying Gibbs as he moved to help Tony up. So, she'd been the last. She supposed it had been her choice after a fashion, but now she only felt embraced, held, and that was a good thing. It balanced the disquiet she felt, anger at how much of their jobs was tied up in trying not to die, how for Tony and Gibbs it was both better and worse.

* * *

 

"How is he, Duck?"

"Stubborn, pig-headed, and unaware of his own limitations!"

"Sounds about right."

Gibbs sauntered away to do God-knew-what, and Kate cornered Tony outside of Autopsy. "So, Tony - you still want to see my apartment?"

"Um, I'm sure it's nice..."

She laughed. "You're slipping, DiNozzo." Try as she might, she couldn't resist busting his chops, and she grinned evilly at him. "You're a lock and key."

"Huh?"

"You and Gibbs."

"Now, look, Katie..."

"I _am_ looking, now," she replied. "It's everything you need, isn't it?"

"Not just me, I hope."

"Why the act?" she demanded, surprised Tony had caved so quickly. Then again, it had been a rough day.

"I honestly don't know," Tony said after a pause and a swipe of his hand through his hair, and Kate's eyes were watering again. "You do something long enough and it's just... easier."

"It's okay, Tony," she sighed. "The job is hard enough."

"You said it. And, Kate...?" Tony grasped her shoulders with both hands. His touch was kind and so was his crooked smile. "Thanks, but... this isn't really how we do it, you know, the talking and stuff..."

"I know that's bullshit, Tony." Kate grinned and punched his arm. "But you're welcome. And hey, at least _somebody_ around here likes the sound of your voice!"

They marched back to the bullpen together, elbowing each other the whole way. Gibbs ordered Tony to nap, for the second time, and right on cue their case blew all to hell.

* * *

 

Between sunset and dark Gibbs went missing and then reappeared. The Director got involved, and the FBI admitted to screwing the pooch. Ari Haswari was back, and Gibbs' life was in Kate's hands.

Kate made her plans and gave her orders, though the whole team ended up spending the night at the Yard, safer by far. Gibbs poked at his keyboard or prowled. She caught him standing at the window, for which she headslapped him. She pretended to doze when he tucked her in and patted her shoulder while she lay on the floor, but she kept her eyes open when he stood over the partition to watch Tony sleep.

When at dawn the nightmare struck anyway, her heart hardened and Kate knew that Morrow's order to stand down would be going up in smoke. Dearborn Avionics was lame and the FBI more so. McGee and Abby heroically reverse-engineered a frequency jammer for a reverse-engineered drone. Ari's hubris and Gibbs' quick thinking allowed NSA to locate the terror base. The cell's target was too much to think about, failure not on the list of options. The chase was on, and _everyone_ was wearing vests.

"I can live with that."

"That's sort of the idea, Gibbs," Kate quipped, Tony standing by. The two of them looked at her with pride, and then at one another for a long moment. Kate recalled the words she now realized she'd seen on Gibbs' lips when he'd whispered to Tony at Bethesda, saw again that _something_ she hadn't quite understood at the time - about the love, about the fine line they were all walking.

No _Try your best._  
No _Please don't._  
A plain and simple _You will not._ Die. 

You just kept believing that, until you got to lay your head down at night and then you woke up the next morning with something to live for.

She nodded and ushered her men out of the bullpen. _Dammit I'm not losing either of them._

Gibbs and Tony walked out shoulder to shoulder, Tony less than half a pace behind, on his boss's six just as always. Kate thanked God for letting her see what they were to each other, and more besides. They hadn't told her, but each in his own way had trusted her - _did_ trust her - and that was a very big something, something she knew she'd remember for the rest of her life.


	8. Gibbs v. Fornell / Gibbs + Tony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tobias bites off more than he can chew, Gibbs and Tony have toe-curling sex, Gibbs has some sweet flashbacks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For all the OKC fangirls, because you rock, for Libi and Maggie who had to skip, for Joss and Lisa, who put up with me as a roomie, for DiNozzosProbie because of Agent Idiot and because I think this one is kind of your bag, for Summersquares because there is a list. Regarding shout-outs, well, I love you all, gentle readers, so very much.  
> Spoilers: Just Dead Man Talking and Twilight, I believe. This isn't episode-related. Takes place not long after preceding chapter.  
> Disclaimer: They started it.  
> Feedback: of course!

**Gibbs v. Fornell / Gibbs + Tony**

Tony closed the door, threw his keys into the bowl, pegged his backpack, and shucked off his jacket, all within the space of one perfectly described circle. It was late and he was tired, but he liked acting as if he owned the place. Gibbs seemed to expect it, which had been a surprise. Gibbs was particular, even though he left the door open. Smiling, Tony inhaled deeply. His apartment was an apartment, and his father's house had smelled only of marble and money.

"Honey, I'm ho..."

"In here, DiNozzo." Tony heard the note of warning from Gibbs.

Tobias Fornell was hunched over the coffee table in white shirt, skinny tie, and rumpled trench coat, hands hanging over his knees and eyes on Gibbs, who was sitting across. Fornell, always the secret agent, must have parked around the corner.

"Hey, Fornell."

"DiNozzo." Fornell used the fricative. He usually did.

"What's up?"

"I could ask you."

Tony withheld a sigh. Suspicious and arrogant, that was Fornell.

"You could."

"Strategy meeting on Haswari."

"Oh."

Tony almost enjoyed playing dumb in front of Fornell. He shared Gibbs' distrust of the FBI. That wasn't the problem. Tobias, for whatever reason he was in the neighborhood let alone the living room, was plainly curious about Tony's presence and the manner of his entrance.

Best to assume the meeting was a charade. At its end, Tony would still be here, even if Fornell turned it into a game of chicken and stayed all night. Tony held his ground but raised his eyebrows.

Gibbs found Tony's eye and nodded.

"Beer?" Gibbs asked.

Tony went to the kitchen, clinked around loudly in the fridge, and returned with a couple of lagers. He set them on the table, smoking with frost, while Fornell gaped and Gibbs smirked.

"I meant you."

"No thanks, I'm turning in," Tony said mildly. He grinned and trotted up the stairs.

* * *

 

"What the hell was _that?"_

Gibbs said nothing.

"DiNozzo's boiler go out again? You running a hotel?" The FBI agent took a long pull from the beer Tony had brought him. "You should keep away from Ari, by the way."

"It's me and my team he's after."

Fornell squinted at Gibbs. "Security, then. Tell me, what's your SFA doing here? Wouldn't it be better to have him on Sciuto?"

"Subtle, Fornell."

"Is this about Agent Todd?"

"Kate." Gibbs drank, wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. "And no."

"I could see it, you know. You were with her when it happened. You want company. Someone you trust..."

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "Spit it out, for godssake."

Fornell inspected a fingernail and said archly, "There's no guest room up there."

"And you know this how?"

"Never mind. So. You're sleeping with the boat. You're racking on this crappy couch."

"Nope."

Fornell flashed a crooked grin and rolled the dice once more. "Come on, Gibbs!  Let me in on the joke. Tell me you haven't lost your ever-loving mind."

Gibbs put his bottle down and met his friend's gaze head-on.

"Jethro! In case you didn't notice, that's DiNozzo. That's a bit novel, don't you think? I've seen some freaky bonding exercises, but..."

"But you wanna know if I'm sticking my dick in his ass?" _Rule 16._

Fornell promptly choked on his beer, sputtering until Gibbs rose and clapped him on the back. Fornell slumped into the couch in a dazed heap. Gibbs thought he heard laughter.

"Christ, Gibbs!" Fornell coughed out. "You could have spared me..."

Gibbs talked over him. "Never delivered to the back door, Tobias?"

Fornell blinked. "This isn't about Diane!" 

Gibbs showed a few teeth and blinked right back.

"It's about that overgrown meatball in your bedroom!"

"I can _hear_ you!" Tony called from above.

"Just trying to help a friend!"

"Not helping!"

"Not you, DiNozzo," Fornell muttered.

"Jeez, could you shut the door, Tony!"

Gibbs started up the stairs. He smirked as a door closed before he was halfway up. The shower came on, and he smiled. Random but tuneful humming followed, and he sighed. Gibbs stood on the stair a moment, hand on the rail, damned if he knew what Tobias Fornell thought he needed help with.

Back downstairs, Gibbs scowled and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.

"Tobias, you learned what you came here to learn. Anything else I can do for you before I throw you out on your ass?"

"Yes, Jethro. Listen to me for two minutes. All joking aside. I know you're reckless, but believe it or not I've always been willing to draw the line at crazy."

"What if I told you he keeps me sane."

"What you are is not sane, Gibbs. Rumor has it DiNozzo sleeps with half the town."

"He sleeps here. Rumor has it you've been following him."

"We think you two are planning an end run to get to Haswari."

"Would be within our rights. Ari will resurface. From what I've seen, that's your fault."

"And from what I've seen, you'll need your wits about you.  Playing house with DiNozzo?  Really, Jethro?"

Fornell's lips pursed and he sighed.

"Don't get me wrong. I get it, sort of. He's a healthy young buck. The kid's grade-A prime on the hoof, honestly, even if he is big, and hairy, and loud, and... Oh, God, I'm gonna barf..."

"What?"

"Jesus, Gibbs, the look on your face!"

"What!"

"Sweet Mother of Mercy..." Mumbling, Fornell collapsed into the lumpy cushions for a second time. "You're in love with him."

* * *

 Gibbs didn't kick Fornell out. He listened patiently to his objections, every one of them logical in its way.

It would be professional suicide. Tony was too young and would fail to remain faithful. Gibbs dismissed these, along with several others, as being out of his control.

Issues with Gibbs himself sat a little harder.

"He works for you. He stays here. Knows you like the back of his hand. You haven't given yourself a place to hide, Gibbs."

"Good."

"Good? Jethro, try the other shoe. Let's say he's in love with _you._ He finds out just how bad at this you really are. He doesn't buy your martyr routine, and he's a guy. You _will_ come to blows...and then he'll leave, just like the rest."

"You're comparing this to my marriages?"

"You're not?"

He wasn't. A whole year with Tony, and he hadn't gone back there, to the way things had soured and how lonely the women had felt: disappointed, confused, nothing in common and no way of holding him to account, him recognizing he had nothing real to give them. He honestly hadn't thought about it once.

All he knew was that his friend, his Senior Agent, his overgrown meatball, was waiting for him upstairs.

Gibbs stood and loosened his shoulders. He yawned and stretched in a fair imitation of DiNozzo.

"I think we're good, Tobias, thanks."

"Excuse me?"

"What's the definition of insanity, Fornell?"

"I'm afraid you've lost me."

Gibbs handed Fornell the coat he'd discarded at some point during the evening, then he opened the door.

"Never mind."

Fornell bade his friend goodnight with a tight smile.

"What's different, Jethro?"

* * *

 

The shower had shut off long ago. Expecting to find him asleep, Gibbs entered the room to find Tony sitting up in bed. He was fiddling with a lamp, a pair of reading glasses, and a history of the Peloponnesian wars.

"The print's really small, Gibbs, but these make it all swimmy."

"Wait a few years, Tony. Don't go borrowing trouble." 

Gibbs undressed and plopped into bed. Tony put the book aside after a moment.

"Why did you sit still for that?" he asked.

"Why did you?"

"Your house, your friend." Tony smirked. "Your rules."

Gibbs gave him a look. "Our relationship, Tony."

"You didn't answer the question."

"He talked himself through it."

"Jethro..."

Gibbs knew he shouldn't love DiNozzo's insecurities, but he did.

"You think all I know how to do is run people out on a rail? Sometimes you learn more by listening."

Tony moistened his lips and asked quietly, "You listened? And learned?"

"Yes."

Gibbs heard, felt, saw the worry in the thump of Tony's heart. He straddled him and kissed him hard. Tony's eyes closed and Gibbs remained sitting atop him.

"Remember the first one?" Gibbs asked.

"How could I forget? I thought I was going to die."

"So did I."

**************

Tony had been jumpy and distracted for months after the Voss case. He'd abandoned the basement and had begun spending time elsewhere. Not by himself, Gibbs had hoped.

He only asked the one time. _"Keeping busy, DiNozzo?"_

Tony declined to answer at all, a condition Gibbs normally would not have tolerated, but their steady, reliable orbit had slipped lately in a way Gibbs found himself hard-pressed to define. Some of it was  Pacci, certainly, but no one was alone in that. Another case came along that dragged them to the edge.

A harrowing search for a missing family ended in blood. Tony drove himself as hard as Gibbs did, for if Gibbs was the team's head, Tony was its broad back, if Gibbs the heart then Tony the lungs. If DiNozzo deflated, McGee's fragile confidence would pop like a pricked balloon. Even Kate, with all her swagger, would begin to doubt. They might all wind up on leave, and Tony wouldn't hesitate to blame himself.

Gibbs followed Tony to the elevator at the end of the latest miserable day. The younger man sagged against the back rail, barely holding himself up. They were both too exhausted to speak. Tony's lips might have been set in concrete, never to move again. Gibbs had intended to say something, anything, about the nature of the job, but things leaked out of DiNozzo's eyes that wouldn't be found in any case file, and suddenly Gibbs couldn't take another second of it. He grabbed Tony by the front of his shirt, pressed him to the wall, and licked his mouth open.

Tony gasped, stiffened, and then went limp, consenting with soft, wide-lipped kisses before falling on Gibbs like a man possessed. Near two hundred pounds of muscle slammed Gibbs into the other wall as he groped for the switch. Gibbs' pulse pounded like a rushing river, and as DiNozzo moaned into his mouth and gripped his body, Gibbs realized something. Tony had been bearing his feelings for him as one bears a wound.

They pulled apart, panting, and Tony jumped back, stopping just short of wiping his mouth on his sleeve. His face was full of fear.

_"Boss...?"_

Gibbs stepped forward, chest heaving, hands raised, placating, his voice shaky. His eyes never left the younger man's.

_"All right. It's alright. It's okay, Tony."_

They didn't talk about the elevator for a long time after. They kept a wary eye on each other at work, fought the uncertainty and distraction. Sometimes Gibbs was pissy and Tony sullen, sometimes they flirted and smiled. Hangovers became more frequent, then less, and still they didn't talk about it, but they did kiss and fumble against the boat, and Tony's kitchen became a place for laughter and friendly grappling. Night after night they let the physical side take them to new places before they sought the refuge of their separate homes.

Gibbs feared the lack of discussion would be hard on Tony, but DiNozzo  accepted it with relief, and for Gibbs that period of discovery stretched out forever, in and around their daily, deadly business, just like the protracted summers of youth. One night when they were unlocking their vehicles, Gibbs thought Tony looked healthy again and wondered if he might be too.

_"Ah shit, leave the damn car, DiNozzo. Just leave it."_

*****************

"Wow. Where did you go, Jethro?"

Tony was on his elbows, staring at him. Gibbs pressed him down, then rolled them and shuffled until he was mostly sitting up with Tony in front of him, face-up in his arms. He kissed at the the younger man's neck and rubbed circles on his chest. He lifted the waistband of his boxers, pushed them down and out of the way.

"Wanna know what's sexy?"

Tony laughed. "You're kidding, right?"

"You up here while Fornell was having a fit."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. It made me feel like a girl."

"Shut up and watch, Tony. You don't feel like a girl to me."

_"...he's big, and hairy, and loud...Jesus, Gibbs, the look on your face!"_

All other things being equal, friendship included, Fornell didn't have any special privileges here, to know the pride Gibbs felt in having Tony as a man, the satisfaction of needing him as one. Abby on the other hand had gotten an eyeful of some serious afterglow. She, Palmer, and McGee had rallied without a word of dissent. Ducky was thoroughly in favor, and Morrow - Tom didn't care. Kate's eyes had opened at their own pace, finally catching up with her great good heart.

The team had rights. Tobias? Had marched in uninvited and demanded an explanation. Still, Gibbs had laid it down without defense, and though he didn't recall a time in his life when he'd have pictured himself here, he could remember the exact moment he'd begun picturing _this._

It was one of their favorite things. Gibbs felt the rhythms of Tony's breath, smelled his hair. The taste of arousal met Gibbs' tongue on the skin of DiNozzo's neck. Its scent rose from the direction of Tony's belly, and below. Gibbs rested his chin on Tony's collarbone, watching over his shoulder as he stroked him.

They did this often, one against the other, the heft of a hard cock in someone's hand, the other flushed and still or wriggling and moaning. Sometimes the need to move and to penetrate took over, and they would fly apart and change positions.

Tonight he hardened against Tony's back while he played with his erection and his nipples. He sank his hands into the shocking mass of hair that surrounded Tony's cock, deep brown curls that spread to each side and up his lean tummy. He slid beneath him and moved himself up and down between Tony's cheeks, hands on hipbone and thigh, and, lube at the ready, he found what he wanted in the hot depth of Tony's body, his calves tight over Tony's shins, toes gripping, arms vise-like around Tony's chest as he thrust from below and Tony heaved and cried out.

Overheated and dripping with sweat, Gibbs withdrew and relocated. He held Tony's ankles aloft, baring his own back and Tony's legs to the huffing breeze of the ceiling fan. Goose bumps vied with the steamy temperature of sex, and pleasure passed over Tony's face under the light of the lamp. Gibbs wasn't one of the people responsible for the opinion that men only wanted to fuck, and long minutes of touching would follow this just as they had preceded it.

He set about torturing Tony with the grind of his hips.

"Gibbs..."

"Take it. You like it."

"Ya think?"

Gibbs chuckled and leaned in, allowing Tony's knees to bend over the arms Gibbs extended, straight and strong. His hands and his weight bore down beside Tony's shoulders, freeing his back to flex and snap with the deep thrusts that would bring them to orgasm.

"Faster..."

"You got it..."

Tony came at the peak of a long stroke, and Gibbs chased after him, claiming Tony's climax with a shout and driving with the whole force of his body. His own release gathered hot in his groin and gripped his core. It bathed the inside of his skull like a fever. It slammed his eyes shut and raced to the ends of his fingers and toes. He lunged one last time and dropped Tony's legs with a thud and a groan as he emptied himself and fell shuddering on top of Tony.

The fan clicked quietly above them.

Tony, arms flung outward, gave up his grip on the sheet and arched his back. He rubbed Gibbs' shoulders and kissed the perspiration from his face.

"Tony, that was..."

Tony sighed. "It was."

"Amazing," Gibbs murmured.

"Remember the first one?"

"Oh yeah."

***************

_Do I fuck you in your bed or mine?_

He thought it at Tony with his best dirty stare. Then he said it.

Tony grinned and froze. He looked surprised at his own reaction, and Gibbs was incredulous. They'd been getting each other off for weeks.

_"Are we back at square one, Tony?"_

_"No!"_

_"Didn't think I'd be talking you into bed, DiNozzo. Don't you trust me?"_ It was a terrible thing to say. It slipped out.

Tony reached for Gibbs, his eyes revealing a Tony Gibbs had all but forgotten when things had turned sexual. Gibbs could have kicked himself, because he knew. They weren't at square one. They were fast approaching a point of no return, and for Tony that had always meant moving on.

Was DiNozzo ready to pivot? Was he afraid?

Gibbs deferred to the wisdom of his hands and gave Tony a long back rub. Neither pretended the conversation was over. Tony gave his reassurances in the form of kisses, and Gibbs went home.

Worn sweats and tshirt, steeped in work and in memory, were Gibbs' favorite and most deceptive creature comfort. People thought he was thrifty, stodgy, stubborn, out-of-date. More fool they. Clothes, bourbon, sander, planer, and he was set, ready to line up his thoughts along the sturdy ribs of the trusty, all-knowing boat.

 _Planer._ They weren't just fooling around. That had been clear enough in the elevator when Gibbs' gut had struck like lightning and Tony had erupted like dry tinder. If anything, they were holding back.

 _Sander_.  Gibbs loved Tony better than the other, shitty people in his life. It was true for him as a boss, long before this. Tony had craved Gibbs' possession from the first, even though he was annoyingly self-sufficient. He was used to being disappointed and had funny ways of measuring success and failure. There were real and significant reasons for this, and someday Gibbs would throttle Tony's father for it.

 _Brush._   As a boy among boys, Gibbs had done the usual comparing, discussing, and rarer touching. In the Marines, he'd lay in his bunk while everyone including him jerked off, but he lacked meaningful experience of the way men had sex with each other. He'd just been going with it. Even so, he didn't have to be told there was a big difference between playing with the equipment and giving up your ass.

 _Rag._ Maybe fucking was a step too far- too violent, too passionate, too personal to be good for either of them. It might change their ownership of one another in unforeseen ways, unbalancing it. Gibbs thought it would make it better, but he was biased.

 _Whiskey._   Whiskey, and he doubted Tony was sleeping either.

Tony got the better of them both. He came over a couple nights later. He grabbed Gibbs by the hand. He led him silently out of the basement and straight up the stairs, straight into his mentor's bed. He turned Jethro on with deadly attention, and he surrendered his body with a tenderness that took Gibbs' breath along with all that remained in his heart.

Tony lay below him, naked and golden. A pillow was under his hips. His ass was round, perfect for touching as Gibbs settled between long, muscular thighs. Tony's head was turned to the side. Gibbs saw thick lashes, and a graceful, knowing smile. And it was sex. No pink gash, no layered folds, no plump, pillowy vestibule, but a tightly muscled entrance, simple and private, a place for him.

Gibbs traced the ring's circle and wet it down with lube. He carefully put his fingers in Tony, then the head of his cock. He pushed in and was swept away by the grip and heat, by Tony's quivering breaths. He cleared his eyes of the sparks and anchored himself as best he could, and slowly and deliberately, he started to move.

Tony found his voice somewhere in the frenzy that came next, and Gibbs was fucking _his_ Tony, Tony of the breathless babble. Between the moans and squeaks and the whispering of Gibbs' name, between the curses and invocations of the deity, Tony informed Gibbs on a few things such as  _how cool it is getting my ass fucked by the guy I have a crush on, I guess_ _I'm your boyfriend now_ _,_ and other declarations that made Gibbs laugh and then go mute, trying to bring Tony all the pleasure it was in his power to give. 

Afterwards Gibbs started to speak several times but could only smile. Tony's eyes were calm, and there was a translation of his babble in those eyes, there for Gibbs to see from that day forward. 

*****************

The bed was sweaty, but could wait. After they showered, the sheets cool and only slightly damp, Tony and Gibbs fell back into bed. Only the lamp and the ceiling fan were tireless; the evening had been more eventful than most. 

"What about Fornell?" Tony asked. "He said you were making a mistake." 

Gibbs heaved a grouchy sigh. "He'll come around, Tony. If he doesn't, so what?" 

"Still, Gibbs, he made it pretty clear he thinks you should undo all this." Tony flopped a hand. "With me." 

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs sat up. "Look at me!"

"I am." 

"No, raise your _head,_ and look at me." 

"Ah." Tony obeyed. 

Gibbs waved a hand in turn, indicating their bodies where they still touched, sharing warmth, connected. 

"I can't exactly un _fuck_ you, Tony," Gibbs said softly. A gentle slap ended in the ruffling of Tony's hair. "Can't exactly unlove you." 

"Now. Do you see anybody else in this room?" Gibbs asked pointedly. 

"Funny, Gibbs." 

It was funny. Funny that Tony was asking for what he needed. Funny the way they'd made a haven for themselves, here and among their friends. Funny how the point of no return had come and gone. 


End file.
